CNET Top 5: DRM-free music stores

22 May 2008

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>> Welcome to CNET Top 5, where each time we meet we countdown another hot CNET list. I'm Tom Merritt. Digital rights management a.k.a. DRM, sucks! It can break your music... and your heart. The record labels have realized this and loosened the chains up a bit. More websites are feeling the freedom and selling you restriction free mp3s. So... let's count down the Top 5 DRM-free music stores. [Pause] At number 5, Anthology Recordings. CNET's Donald Bell calls it the Bermuda triangle of rare and out of print off-beat recordings and where else are you gonna find Sir Lord Baltimore's Kingdom Come or Robert Wyatt's Solar Flares Burn For You, and of course War Pig. Coming in at number 4, CD Baby. This is where I find my favorite Austin bands like Fire Marshals of Bethlehem, Stick Pony, and Moonlight Towers. You can also discover gems like the Ramontures, Surf Guitar Ramones Cover Band. Up to number 3, iTunes Plus. A great catalog and major labels, right? Right there in iTunes without DRM, but you have to look for that iTunes Plus link 'coz the rest of the iTunes is still DRM. Sliding in at number 2, eMusic. They were DRM-free when DRM-free wasn't cool. It's indie music and you have to have a membership, but the per track price is great. You don't care about major labels... this is the place to be. Before we get to number 1, let's check in on the Top 5 mp3 players. Music from all the stores we're talking about will play in any of these players. All right, let's get to our number 1, our favorite place to shop for DRM-free music. At number 1, it's Amazon. That's right! Amazon has all the major labels plus indie labels and all DRM-free. And if you wanna use their software, it'll place any music you buy right into your favorite music player, just like iTunes. They also have good prices, sometimes as low as 89 cents a track. Pretty much everything we've been asking for the past five years or so. Well that's it for this edition of CNET Top 5. Go to the mp3 section at reviews.cnet.com to get help with the rest of your digital music needs. I'm Tom Merritt. See you next time.
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